Joseph Marker promoted after serving
as the housing authority's
Deputy Chief for the past two years

PHILADELPHIA - (August 24, 2017) -
Joseph Marker has been appointed the new police chief at the
Philadelphia Housing Authority Police Department (PHAPD). He
replaces Branville Bard, who recently
left PHAPD to serve as the Chief of Police in Cambridge, Mass.

Marker came to the PHA Police Department with 36 years of
experience at the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD). Before
being promoted to the PHAPD's top job, Marker served for two years
as the department's second-in-command.

"Promoting Chief Marker was an easy decision for me. As an
Inspector with the PPD for more than 12 years, Chief Marker
commanded over 700 officers and protected millions of
Philadelphians. With his decades of leadership experience, I have
full confidence that he will lead PHA's Police Department with
integrity, fairness, and accountability," said PHA President and
CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah.

Chief Marker steps into big shoes. Under Chief Bard, crime at
PHA developments declined 41% in 2016 alone. He upgraded various
procedures in the department to bring the unit into best practices
compliance with recognized police techniques and technology. One of
the practices Chief Bard employed was the usage of police body
cameras.

Following Bard from the city's police force to PHA and acting as
his second-in-command, Marker played a large role in implementing
the changes that contributed to the improved safety of PHA
communities. Marker is intent to keep Bard's momentum
going.

"Branville and I had many conversations around the direction of
the department, and we were in total agreement," Marker said. "The
programs and procedures that we implemented have been successful,
so I don't anticipate taking the department in a different
direction. Instead, I'm going to keep building on the strong
foundation that Branville established. "

The new Chief also greatly supports the notion to recruit, hire
and train PHA residents to become sworn officers. There are
currently nine on the force. A tenth resident is preparing to
attend the police academy starting in late September.

"I think resident officers add credibility to the department,"
he says. "There's nothing like having our residents in the program
interact with people who they know and who they can relate to. The
officers also help the department better understand the community
members we serve, which is crucial to creating safe places to live
and work."

Under Kelvin Jeremiah's administration, the PHAPD has greatly
increased its complement of sworn officers. The agency now has
77.